Shakespears Sister / Sacred Heart deluxe reissue confusion

Sacred Heart the 1989 debut album from Shakespears Sister, is due for a deluxe reissue this summer, but the rights to re-release this album – which is owned by Warner Music – is now the subject of contention following claims via Siobhan Fahey and Shakespears Sister’s official Facebook page that Cherry Pop (part of Cherry Red Records) “do not have clearance or any licence from WMG to reissue this album”. Below is the text in full posted to the Shakespears Sister Facebook page (and twitter) on Thursday 28th March 2013:

“Just clear up some rumours. The Sacred Heart reissue will be released on SF Records this year. The label, Cherry Pop do not have clearance or any licence from WMG to reissue this album. No disrespect to the label, but any rumours stating so are totally untrue. The reissue will be done within Siobhan’s own team with officially licensed material. Anyway, we hope that ends the debate on the issue and you can look forward to the MUSIC. Thank you for your kind and supportive words on all our previous reissues, especially #3 and MGA! This has given us incentive to bring more”.

Cherry Pop strongly disagree. The project manager who has been working on this reissue for that label got in touch with this blog to issue the following quote:

“I wouldn’t normally comment on a situation yet to be resolved, but given recent statements from elsewhere which wrongly suggest otherwise, I think it should be made clear that Shakespears Sister’s ‘Sacred Heart’ had indeed been scheduled for a June 2013 release on Cherry Pop, officially licensed from Warner Music UK.

This project has been in the works since May 2012, with Warners giving formal legal approval and clearance in February 2013. As such, much time and energy has already gone into it, with tracklisting and label copy finalised weeks ago and design and remastering (using original masters from the Warner archive) already well underway.

In the last few days, it has become apparent that there is some confusion over this project. Therefore, it is currently on hold until Warner can clarify the situation for all parties”.

So somehow we are in a situation where two parties believe they have the right to reissue this album with a licensing agreement from Warners. On the one hand Cherry Pop a well established reissue label specialising in ’80s/’90s pop and the the other “Siobhan’s own team” via SF Records.

Hopefully, the situation will be resolved and clarified soon, since the last thing fans of Shakespears Sister will want is a lengthy legal battle which will delay the reissue

Ihope both Sacred Heart and Hormonally yours get that deluxe release someday soon. Both albums are great and such imagery could be done with the physical releases.
I personally would love to see Tom Parker handle the reissues, his work on the first 6 Bananarama album reissues is amazing, they look beautiful, presentation and comprehension is top notch.
It all seems to have gone quiet on the Siobhan front for some time excluding a recent live performance appearance for a underground band in the States.
I thought the guy who ran the SS website was a lovely guy and as others have said was well intentioned and wanted to genuinely give the fans what they wanted, however truthfully speaking the quality was not what you would expect from the SF releases.
I too bought the site originals then later the retail versions. The site copies of #3 expanded in
particular were a eyesore, the print job on the discs and the booklet looked like someone had just churned them out from their garden shed.
Even things like staples in the booklet being placed in bizarre places that made the booklet uneven and loose. I expected far better for £20 and to this day I still believe they was homemade jobs and not done professionally.
The retail versions are much better but still look cheap in presentation compared to the original #3 retail pressing back in 2005 which was well presented and good quality minus a missing page.
My dream SS deluxe releases would be for all 4 albums Sacred Heart, Hormonally yours, #3 and Songs from the Red Room to all get the Tom Parker deluxe treatment and a release on Demon records with permission from Siobhan and Warners of course.
Hope it still happens, better late than never.

I was looking forward to this release “back in the day”. The track “Little Bit Of Heaven” got omitted by Fahey-her choice. Legal battles and personal-life issues…whatever. A re-issue like this could have drawn more attention to an extinct band; so maybe that’s why this has not been released.

One year on and this seems to be dead in the water. Whilst I loved the all-encompassing track listing from the SF camp, I can’t help thinking we’d have actually got a decent double-disc release by now had CP won the battle.
Paul, are you able to get any updates on this?

It’d be lovely to have the reissue of “Sacred Heart”, I always loved that album, and I quickly worked how much better she was going to be that sticking with Bananarama, who are sweet, bless them, but easy pop with no changes, and not album people. I always wondered how the hell to get hold of the many b-sides/demos that could have been made and it’ll be great if all released albums collect them. Whatever issues the differing labels are clashing over regarding its release, may they get it sorted. I still reckon this is the best ‘SS’ album done, took a while to get into the more recent ones, though I still need to hear “#3”. I really wish Kim Wilde, who’s having her sellout album reissued this year, would take Siobhan’s brave mantle on and attack Universal to get out her locked away completed 1998 unreleased album out, plus its maxis and b-sides, like Siobhan so brilliantly did with her third album over London Records. It sounds like some people have been lucky in the past to talk to Siobhan online, but she probably doesn’t do it so much now.

Still, rock on “Sacred Heart”-it’s long overdue and one of the best albums of 1989 period-and my first ever introduction to dark music when I got it for my 12th birthday.

No offence to Siobhan but I certainly would buy a reissue from Cherry Pop rather than Siobhan’s own website, unless of course a better copy was available on Amazon as was the case with a couple of her reissues. Unfortunately I find the way Siobhan’s online presence is conducted sometimes a little unprofessional. They are always announcing releases and then nothing happens and questions are never answered which makes her look bad. Now there is this….it seems something already in the works and which people have worked hard at is now in jeopardy because of the confusion. I will be interested to see how this all works out. Also I wouldn’t blame all this on a fan running Siobhan’s online affairs. Both Bananarama’s website and Facebook page are run by people who are fans, in fact many other bands entrust there internet presence to fans.

Fans are sometimes the best Jane and I agree with your comment about Siobhan announcing projects and not following them through. From what I can see it looks like both parties will do this and that is great. I actually saw on Siobhan’s forum that the cd will go out in shops and amazon so that’s good.

Thanks for all the comments – obviously some differing views, but let’s keep the banter friendly please. Anything offensive, even if it references something-someone-else-said, isn’t acceptable. Stuff like that will get deleted. Cheers, Paul (Editor)

Re: Jewel’s comment “it is her porogative to sell things at whatever price she likes”… I just wanted to add that a 1 track Bananarama promo CD priced at £80, which has “For promotional use only – not for resale” on it, issued by London/Warners in 2001, isn’t exactly hers to sell. You certainly wont see those on Keren and Sarah’s website, nor Jacquie’s.

Yeah agree Ant does a nice job and Dean was also overworked with Siobhan’s stuff. Ordered something from the site back in 2005 and never got it from Dean, and prices were steep then too. However, it’s not about that really is it? We should be focused on the music. I personally hope both SF and CP do this released. Both have their strengths. Team SF have the advantage of Siobhan’s direct involvement and material while CP have good PR and marketing. I think Anfunny’s comments are blown out of context a bit and you speak real venom about a team that works very hard to bring us more releases. The CDs from ss.co.uk really were not that bad, mine were all fine anyway! I love Cherry Pop and think they have done a fantastic job on their previous titles.

I’m not taking sides or running to Siobhan’s deffence here. I am the first to admit when she makes a bad move, for example #3: expanded was not given the correct print job it deserved the first time round and my copy arrived in a bad way (not Siobhan’s fault that it got smashed I know) but there was a few splodges of black ink on my discs. Ant sent me a new one and that was fine but still a crap print job. I went onto buy the proper retail versions and they were superb, just how they should have been.

The site does sell items at extremely high prices though and Siobhan needs a reality check there. If she didn’t make those prices then she needs to be informed! But she must be aware if Ant is selling them on her official site.

I can’t fault Ant’s work and know he and Siobhan have a real chemistry from what I have seen, and they listen to us and like to give us what we want. I met Ant in Siobhan’s dressing room in 2010 and he was such a nice guy but feel he is somewhat overworked and left to do everything on his own, maybe he should recruit some help. If he and Siobhan (and now even Marcy) have bashed heads together on this project it will be total magic. Just seen the track list and they said unreleased tracks are on there.

Long Live The Queens??? I don’t recall hearing any bad mastering on this? I know a few tracks were cut very short. Can you elaborate Anfunny. I have only spun that CD about 3 times – Im not a fan of LLTQ anyway, it wasn’t the best package, but from what I heard from Kurt Pagan Davies – Siobhan hated it and had no involvement in it. Maybe this Sacred Heart will be better as her and Marcy are directly involved???

Re: LLTQ; One track is in mono, three are cut short, at least one is from vinyl and of course, there’s that sleeve… it looks like a bitter ex has taken the scissers to the weddng photos. More info on Discogs.

It probably reads like “venom”, but it’s certainly not just myself. The person behind these latest SS products has a reputation in the Bananarama and Jacquie O camps, where they are not welcome. And I’m not talking about fans.

But to move away from that, I find this tracklist they keep talking about most bizarre. It was a 2CD/DVD set a week ago, then it changed to a 3CD you could suggest tracks for… only to be changed a couple of hours later to a 37 track set, then 38 tracks because he missed one off… no, sorry, another one missed off, so it’s 39… and then today we’ve got unreleased tracks thrown into the mix? It doesn’t sound very stable. They certainly wont all fit?

“Jacquie O camps, where they are not welcome. And I’m not talking about fans.”

Ant, the person behind the releases is good friends with Jacquie though, so not sure what you heard there. I didn’t get the impression that anyone was not welcome in those communities apart from a few of the old nutters and sorry to say your name has popped up a few times with even Siobhan making a few remarks about you herself lol. Sorry not being petty but you really pissed her and us dedicated forum users off with your moaning. I’m not wanting to cause an argument but this bitching is really boring

Yes, someone with the username Siobhan Fahey on her old forum, took offence when I complained that she was selling mp3’s of old Bananarama 12″ mixes that had been ripped from vinyl as part of a subscription service. Breaking a few copyright laws there! I remember it well. I also seem to recall a spat when I said it wasn’t right to sell promo CDs at extortionate prices (£60? £80? For 1 track CDs?!). I think her line of response was that artists can sell their own works for whatever they see fit, like a painter would sell a painting, or something. I disagreed then and I disagree now, I’m affraid. I think you need to respect your fans a little more, perhaps. But that’s only my opinion.

If asking for more value for money or questioning the quality of goods you’ve paid money for (which is a very large part of Super Deluxe Edition, by the way!) makes you a “Nutter”, then I am definitely one of them. Plenty of unsigned acts with smaller profiles manage to conduct themselves much better, with competitive prices and quality products. But I don’t follow her activtity online any more, I only hear about it from friends occassionally, and articles like this. I agree, it’s all very boring, it’s why I withdrew my support. I had tickets for her show in Newcastle in 2011 and it was the most poorly attended gig I’ve ever been to. There were about 25 people in there, half of them on the guestlist, and while the show was quite good itself, I think it’s safe to say her audience drifted away years ago… which is a shame. I still think Cherry Pop are far enough removed from the clique to give Sacred Heart a quality re-evaluation without any of the tacky trappings I don’t care for from the more recent release efforts, but more importantly, they will remaster it properly and not rely on vinyl or mp3 sourced audio content.

Fair enough. I agree her pricing system is ludicrous. She has always been known for this and I see her argument too though, it is her porogative to sell things at whatever price she likes. I went to the Liverpool opening night during her tour and then followed her to Brighton (went to 2 gigs). I believe Bristol was toward the back end and I noticed a dip in the atmosphere. Her opening night in Liverpool was awesome with such energy. But come Brighton it was poor. I love her though and have faith in her.

This situation will come down to whoever blinks first – the release will generate such little profit, that the moment a lawyer gets involved, it’ll blow it straight away… or maybe SF offered Cherry Pop the extras at a price to leverage some actual income from the exercise, CP turned her down, and this is SF’s way of retaliating…?

I’ve seen the tracklist… and it’s probably going to contain vinyl rips, mono tracks, early fades and mastering mistakes (see the horrible Long Live The Queens CD). There’s no other way they could include some of those remixes… Quality not quantity, right? It’s a shame there’s nothing UNRELEASED included. I wonder if Cherry Pop’s selection includes something a bit more exciting?

The expanded #3 was top notch. I have no complaints and Siobhan always gives us what we want. Not sure why she has so many haters. Cant comment on her other albums as I only got #3 recently and I love it. Whoever does this cd im sure it will be great

Unfortunately, Dial F For Freedom on that expanded #3 is based on an uncleared sample of T Rex and none of the bonus tracks have any credits… I wonder why! Did you pay £20 for it? I did, when it was a “limited edition never to be available again” direct from the site, then a year later , it’s £9 in HMV, Amazon, etc. That’s why there are “haters” I guess. Nothing to do with the music, just the “team” who con and rip-off people. If you look at her online store, she wants £80 for a 1 track Bananrama promo CD she got free from Universal. I find stunts like that disgusting.

Hi anfunny. i bought the cd from amazon and it was really nice and great quality. i see it on facebook that the “private” ones sold on siobhan’s site werent as good as the printing work wasnt up to scratch. but the one i got from amazon is superb and arrived in spain with good timing :)

Love you Shuv, but really, I hope Cherry Pop wins in this situation. A label who usually does an excellent, professional job with their deluxe edition reissues vs. a well-intentioned-but-sloppy-and-homemade-job from SF Records. It’s a no-brainer who should release the album.

For me, and I’m a big fan of this album/act, I’d be happier with the reissue being handled by someone who releases best-selling reissues as a full time job. It’s just makes more sense. The Cherry Pop releases have been excellent these past few years, everything you could hope for and more. The ideal scenario is everyone is happy, so a reissue informed by the artist but handled by a professional is the better option usually. Artists make the music, labels make the CDs and fans buy them. In this instance, I believe a fan representing the artist wants to do it all himself… Vs Cherry Pop’s own edition. I hope Cherry Pop’s license holds firm!

A situation in which I do not favor the reissue rights of one party over another. Hopefully both parties can be made happy by the (hopeful) resolution of this matter.

I mean, I’m all in favor of the better reissue project going forward, but I would not dismiss either party’s right to the reissue.

Although… I could see how Warners in America has not licensed Cherry Pop, but Warners UK has? Which might allow Cherry Pop to release the album in the UK but not the US? I know that sometimes clearances granted to product in the UK do not extend to the US…

@Mike Oh that’s a bit cheap, isn’t it? I have been involved with some Cherry Pop reissues and the only time they have used a “needle drop” as you call it, was when the record company didn’t have the tracks that were asked for. (As for that, I can only say ‘how can that be??? You release records, you’re in the business of releasing tracks, and you LOSE THEM? WTF? ) Somehow I hope Cherry Pop will win this one because artists can be a bit precious about their own material. Or else, perhaps they should both release the album. :)